Sony’s Hong Kong site has revealed a set of Metal Gear Solid 4 DLC for LittleBigPlanet today. The content features costumes (individual and a pack) and level content for the game. Fans will be able to dress their Sackboy as Meryl, Screaming Mantis, and Raiden, along with the already released Old Snake. Looking at the icon for the level creation pack, it looks like there will be plenty of MGS stickers, as well as the inevitable objects and materials. Sony might be milking the cash cow a little hard with LittleBigPlanet, but honestly this looks like it might be something I’m actually interesting in getting, if only to have a Solid Snake sticker.

Via PS3 Fanboy.

The PlayStation Blog has revealed a new set of downloadable content for LittleBigPlanet today: a “level pack”. The pack, the first of many, will include costumes, objects, decorative items and stickers, and will cost $2.99. The two costumes above will be in this pack, along with a host of other stuff- but only until Jan 8!. Hit the jump to see what you’ll be getting.

- Two new Costumes – Christmas Tree headpiece and a Wrapped Sackboy.
- One new Create Material = Wrapping Paper (cardboard w/ giftwrap texture).
- Two new Objects = A Festive Sleigh and holiday themed light.
- Six new Decorations = A Festive Bauble, Bell, Wrapping Bow, Candy Cane, Card and Stocking.
- A ton of new Stickers = holiday themed of course, including a Red Nose Reindeer, Elves, Turkey images and many more.

Pretty nice selection of stuff. Worth $2.99, though? I suppose if you’re a big fan of Christmas and/or the game, it’s not too bad. Look out for the free Santa costume being released soon, too!

Why not? It seems the best way to promote your game today is to dress up Media Molecule’s lead character as that of your own. If you’re a fan of the Capcom fighting series, you will apparently be able to pick up the character costumes shown above individually and as a package deal. No word on price or release date just yet. Sit tight.

Source:psnow.es

I know some fanboys will read the headline and expect this article to totally slam the PS3 and Little Big Planet, and they will likely start posting hateful comments before even reading what this is about. Great. You are only making your fanboyism more apparent and showing the community what a massive dickface you are, so I welcome that.

What this article is actually about is in defense of Little Big Planet (or is it LittleBigPlanet, one word?). You see, a lot of websites (that I won’t mention because they don’t deserve the promotion) have been commenting on Little Big Planet’s sales and making the fantastically brilliant analysis that the game’s delay may have affected its numbers. More specifically, its October sales numbers in particular are not as high as they could have been because the release date was pushed back. Um, no fucking shit, you morons.

While a lot of fanboys and seemingly intelligent people have tried to reason with these websites as to why the sales were as “low” as they were (the patch caused people to be wary of buying it, lots of big releases in October, Sony didn’t advertise it enough, etc.), they all seemed to be missing one obviously logical explanation: it didn’t sell as well as it could have because it was only out for 4 fucking days!

Let me ask you this: do you think Little Big Planet sold less copies in October in 4 days than it would have if it was instead available for 11 days? Um, of course it did. It’s pretty simple logic, isn’t it? In fact, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 units in 4 days was only right behind SOCOM’s sales of 231,000, and that game was available for a full two weeks longer.

Some people assumed Little Big Planet would be an instant million-seller, and some even predicted 5 million units sold. These October numbers now have people making all kinds of excuses. Let’s be real, people. The PS3 has only 17 games that have to date sold over a million copies (Xbox 360 has 47), and GTA4 tops that list with less than 5 million. Obviously, Little Big Planet is not going straight to the top with over 5 million copies sold. That’s just silly.

On the other hand, Little Big Planet’s sales of 215,000 copies in only 4 days puts it on track to sell a million copies fairly easily, a feat which is pretty impressive for a PS3-exclusive new IP (joining Motorstorm, Resistance, Uncharted, and Heavenly Sword). In fact, I would predict that Little Big Planet breaks the million mark by the end of the month, and if Sony decides to pack it in a holiday bundle, you can expect it to pass 2 million by year’s end.

So all these idiots pretending to be analysts need to just stop writing. If you want to talk about sales data, at least be logical about it… or don’t. At least if you keep doing what you’re doing I’ll have plenty of material for my own writing. So, uh, thanks for that… idiots.

Hello PS3 lovers. Here’s my top five list of new games for the PlayStation 3. These five games are definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for some new games to play on Sony’s console. All games were just released within the past month, so they’re all still fresh. Hit the jump for the list.

#5 Resistance 2

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Release Date: 11/4/08

Genre: Shooter

Step into the shoes of Nathan Hale as you not only take on the gruesome Chimera once again, but also the Chimera disease within your own body. Sequel to 2006’s Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 is sure to be one hell of an adventure. Along with its single-player campaign, players can also join seven other players online for a co-op campaign with a separate storyline. And for more multiplayer mayhem, take on up to 60 players in huge online battles using the various weapons found in Resistance 2.

#4 Fallout 3

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Release Date: 10/28/08

Genre: RPG

It’s the year 2277, 200 years after the global nuclear war left the U.S. in ruins, but not completely destroyed. A small group of survivors are living in Vault 101, a Vault-Tec engineered safe haven in what is left of Washington D.C. – now known as the Capital Wasteland. Giant insects and super mutants live in the outside world, but the people of Vault 101 are safe — at least until your adventure starts.  After you find your father has gone missing from the vault, you are forced to leave and voyage into the unknown. Create a unique character with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system, then choose how you act, which will affect the world around you. Fallout 3 is sure to be one of the greatest games of the year.

#3 SOCOM: Confrontation

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Release Date: 10/16/08

Genre: Shooter

With online-only multiplayer gameplay, SOCOM: Confrontation is sure to be one of the best shooters exclusive to the PlayStation 3. After the success of the SOCOM series on the PlayStation 2, Sony has finally delivered a next-gen SOCOM and it sure is sweet. With up to 32-player battles, seven detailed maps, and the ability to build your own character, Confrontation is right in the mix with the best shooters this year. Read more about it in my Socom: Confrontation Ripten review.

#2 Call of Duty: World at War

Publisher: Activision

Release Date: 11/11/08

Genre: Shooter

After the huge success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Activision is trying again with Call of Duty: World at War, but this time they’re going back to the World War II era. Built using the same engine as COD4, World at War puts you in the middle of a war in the Pacific playing either as an American Marine or a Russian Infantryman in its single-player campaign. And for the first time ever in a Call of Duty game, World at War introduces co-op play with either two-player local split screen or up to four players online. Oh, and if you thought COD4 online multiplayer was fun, just wait until you get online with this one!

#1 LittleBigPlanet

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Release Date: 10/30/08

Genre: Platformer

Create the world of your imagination in LittleBigPlanet, one of the best games to come out this year, exclusively for the PlayStation 3. As you discover your character’s abilities, you can then use them to create your surroundings as you like. You can move anything you see, as well as design, build, and create whatever you can imagine. Along with an enormous single-player experience, other gamers on the PlayStation Network will shape their own plots, creating a LittleBigPlanet community that’s endlessly interactive and sure to be a ball. Multiplayer modes are both on and offline, allowing you to play with friends together or competitively. Read more in our LittleBigPlanet Ripten review.

It seems that even before the game’s release, LittleBigPlanet has been having problems. The latest comes from the “moderation” of user-created levels. Now, I’m pretty sure everyone was expecting all of the penis-themed LBP levels to be the first to get the crackdown, but surprisingly that isn’t the case at all. Instead, levels that include copyrighted game material–such as God of War or even Playstation 3-themed levels–are the first to be removed. This isn’t simply a deletion from the online server; the entire level is deleted and you can’t republish it.

Complaints started on the forums of LittleBigWorkshop, where a user posted the following:

Has anyone had this happen to them yet? My level was moderated (read; deleted) and now I can’t re-publish. There was absolutely nothing offensive whatsoever in the level at all and I was given no explanation as to why they moderated it or why they won’t even let me republish, even after making changes. If any mods here have any insight into why things like this happen, please enlighten me, as this totally kills the enjoyment I was getting out of this game.

The user apparently had Sonic and MGS-related items in the level, which violate the EULA. One of the developers responded in the forum with the following message:

We’re reviewing the moderating system currently to provide better feedback on why levels are moderated. Primarily, any level that is reported using the grief tool will be checked over by a moderator, at which point they’ll examine it in line with the EULA. If a level is found to be in violation of the EULA it will be moderated and you’ll receive a message to that effect.

We’re moving towards a system where additional information is given, however for the time being if you don’t want your level moderating avoid anything unsuitable for users of all ages and copyright content.

However, there is one disturbing, unresolved issue when you look closer at these two comments. The dev clearly states that if you violate the EULA, you will receive a message saying that this is the case. But it seems that the user who first posted didn’t get any type of message at all–his level was just removed.

The result of this “moderation” is mixed. Some users have been completely turned off from playing or even buying the game, and who can blame them? After spending hours upon hours creating a level that gets removed simply for using the image of a PS3, why would you want to play the game anymore? Other users simply ask that the devs outline more specifications as to what constitutues a violation of the EULA.

What’s odd about this is the clear double standard. Doesn’t the Sackzilla trailer infringe on the copyrights of films such as Godzilla and Kill Bill (one of the sackboys is clearly wearing a yellow jumpsuit modeled after the one worn by Uma Thurman)? It seems a little unfair that the company promotes this type of creation in its own trailer, but denies it in user created content.

Source: Destructoid.com

I clicked on a pending article with the title “CNN: Microsoft Xbox had a 95% Failure Rate” because it sounded interesting. Much to my displeasure, once I got to the article page, I was met with a paragraph outlining what I assume is the ending of Gears of War 2.

My second run-in was when I spotted an article in the “incoming news” section. This asshole was bolder than the first, putting spoilers in the actual title. He also seemed to be smarter, as he had worded it in an odd way, I assume to get around some sort of keyword blocker.

I was talking to our editor-in-chief Chad Lakkis about the ordeal. And by talking, I mean that I was yelling at him because the internet has pissed me off. He brought up a good point and one that ultimately depresses me. N4G has a pretty rigorous process that one must go through to become able to submit news. That means that these people put in the time and effort to reach this status, just to post this bullshit.

Chad also brought up another great point. Remember this whole MetaCritic user ratings debacle that happened over Little Big Planet and Gears 2? In response to the incident, MetaCritic is planning to institute an approval process for fans that want to rank games. Well, that obviously isn’t stopping the bullshit on N4G, so how much is it going to do for MetaCritic?

Both spoiler stories that I encountered have since been deleted off of the site, but you can be sure that more will pop up, so be careful.

UPDATE: People have been getting PMs on N4G containing spoilers as well, so be cautious when opening anonymous PMs. People have also been leaving spoilers in the comments section of the N4G post regarding this story, as was expected, so I wouldn’t read that either.

In shock from scandalous accusations, Sackboy slowly saunters from the shadows and into the spotlight.  As indulgent as that alliteration might be, there really aren’t enough words to adorn LittleBigPlanet.  I asked whether the game could live up to the hype last month, which is ultimately for you to decide, but in my opinion LittleBigPlanet has launched itself into a whole new stratosphere of excellence.

So what’s changed since the Beta?  Now on Blu-ray, the textures have more pop, the art more polish, and the tutorials shine in high definition. This gives me a good opportunity to describe the even more beautiful LittleBigPlanet. Graphically, the game is a reality that’s been put through a mangle and reassembled in miniature. Like a mass Blue Peter make, the toilet rolls, yoghurt pots and tinfoil that once created Tracey Island now form Sackboy’s playground. Stuck together with glue rather than sticky-backed-plastic, the variety of real-world textures that shape disparate environments is nothing short of inspiring. Some of the best lighting and shadowing continue to stretch the realism, along with lovingly applied motion blur to give the impression of being filmed.

You’ll travel eight diverse worlds in the story mode, where 25 main levels and approximately 35 mini-challenges await Sackboy. The premise of the narrative encompasses every portion of what the game stands for: Creature Curators tend LittleBigPlanet’s creations and as they share their wares with the nomadic Sackboy, their creations start to go missing.  The culprit lies at the end of jumps, swings and puzzles; Sackboy will have to use all his talents to free the Planet.  The plot’s delivery is misty, mainly due to the eschewing of Stephen Fry’s narration in favour of short episodic text, but it does have a certain charm and becomes clearer as the game advances towards a spectacular finale.

The levels themselves glisten with Media Molecule’s creative juices, demonstrating what can really be achieved with the games creation tools as they grow in ingenuity.  It must be noted that LittleBigPlanet is not the carefree cakewalk you might expect.  Most levels rely on a solid grasp of the controls and when it comes to Sackboy’s physics based jumps, common sense.  You’ve never seen a real-time physics system as inclusive as LittleBigPlanet’s and so leaping from a springy platform might require trial and error. Yet, Sackboy is not an uncooperative lump of floaty stuffed cloth: once you understand LittleBigPlanet’s rules of movement, he is but your faithful puppet.

Adding three planes of depth was a work of brilliance, resulting in more complex traversals that brim with originality.  However, this depth can cause tricky situations if you’re not well versed with the controls, which is especially problematic when online creators neglect to take care of the planes. Nevertheless, LittleBigPlanet is in a relatively comfortable space between 2D and 3D and with plenty of spawn points to help Sackboy through his trials, you’ll rarely need to restart a level unless you’re targeting the perfect run.

At every hop, skip and jump your mind will be intrigued by contraptions you’ll want to create for yourself.  And with a canvas begging for Sackboy’s toolbox, you can.  The easy to navigate Popit Menu holds the tools and after Fry’s help you’ll be popping out levels to your hearts desire. The menu bursts with materials, lights, music, bolts, pistons and will grow as you traverse the story mode.  This is why collecting bubbles is so addictive for the Sackpeople – it brings them closer to discovering that next sticker, decoration or object to include in their own creations.

Create is LittleBigPlanet’s revolution. In stark contrast to the traditions of console gaming, LittleBigPlanet’s expansive and easy to use creation tools surpass anything similar you’ve experienced before. Moreover, since every object is physics based, your tweaking can create a dynamic living level that can be tested immediately by switching to Play Mode.

Nevertheless, some of my complaints from the Beta remain.  The rules of gluing remain a mystery: sticking objects together is relatively simple, but when it comes to ungluing one particular object, you might find every item in a structure un-sticks, resulting in collapse. A similar conclusion occurs if you neglect to give your structure sufficient support – under the strain it will overheat, causing sections to spontaneously combust.  These rare and solvable problems (use floating dark matter for stability) aside, LittleBigPlanet’s talent for creativity conjures something very special – an imaginative concoction that gets your creative juices flowing and fills your belly with tasty levels of your own design.

It’s in the discovery of others levels that stand LittleBigPlanet in good stead to last years of player input.  Sackboy’s smile may eventually tire, but the Planet will keep on giving.  This game is meant to played online (questioning the efficacy of a recall when an online patch was available) with a solar system of levels, ranging from nostalgic remakes and classic platformers, to eccentric dabblings and video game theme tunes. All are ready for your exploration, which is particularly gratifying when you’re not one for creation yourself.  Why create when you can play, play, play?

Levels can be voted and commented on and tagged with praise or damnation.  It’s a youtube of gaming that crowns the best levels. At least, that’s the intention. Teething problems have rendered the sorting comparatively fruitless, but if you find a gem, heart it, comment and invite your friends to join in on the fun.

LittleBigPlanet’s catchphrase “Play, Create, Share” denotes a trilogy of descriptions that can only be possible in this console generation. A new PlayStation mascot is here and Sackboy welcomes both the casual and hardcore.  Your family can express themselves with Sackboy’s emotions, and you can express yourself through complex creations.  What’s more, you can all play together in seamless four player co-op.

Although the game is certainly not perfect, with a slightly eccentric create mode and online struggling to be lag-free, there’s still no escaping the fact that without LittleBigPlanet, you’re severely missing out. LittleBigPlanet wears originality on its sleeve, with a nagging Sackboy waving his popit about and screaming “I’m creative!” Shame on you if you don’t take notice.

LittleBigPlanet Image Gallery

47 Photos

 

LittleBigWorkshop is a site for those of us having trouble making our magnum opus in LittleBigPlanet. The site, while not only boasting the charming LBP aesthetic, provides a multitude of ways to get started on your new level.

The site links to your PSN account (you ought to have one if you’ve got LBP, you know) and allows you to view Workshops, user-created videos on how to go about creating your level, ‘Inspirations’, user-created snippets of text to inspire the greatest level the world has ever seen, and finally the blueprints feature. As you can see, I had no trouble in creating the plans for what may win every award you can think of (and some will be made up in order to commemorate the awesomeness).

It’s all very well done, and there are already plenty of users generating content for the site. It’s just a shame nobody will ever be able to top the Ripten party boat car level.

Since LittleBigPlanet hit retails shelves a week ago (though many people got it before then), there have been some pretty nifty levels coming out of the gaming populous. However, none of them so far have been as creative and mind-blowingly awesome as this Gradius level, fittingly titled “Libidius.jp”. Check it out after the break.

I haven’t even taken a crack at the editor yet, but I can assure you that nothing I pump out will be nearly as fantastic as that. I thought the working calculator was amazing, but holy shit. Holy shit. In fact, after watching that, I don’t think I ever will open the editor. I am not worthy.

RRR30000 (via: forum.beyond3d)

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Does anyone remember the GameDaily “Epic Fail: Games that will Probably Suck” list, because I sure as hell do. In fact, I probably went a little overboard in my response to their calling LittleBigPlanet a “glorified version of PowerPoint” with a future full of “crap content”.

Well, I guess that old PowerPoint presentation finally won them over, because they gave the Media Molecule IP a 9.0 “Excellent” score. Here’s a snippet of what they had to say:

“Until recently, we had trouble enjoying Sony’s ambitious PlayStation 3 video game, LittleBigPlanet. Its mascot, the adorable Sackboy, was shoved down our throats, and the level editor failed to thrill … Now our heads are full of grinning Sackboys, previously completed levels and our own designs. We’re hooked.”

“Buy LittleBigPlanet or we’ll kick you in your Sackboy.”

See, with a little less crystal ball gazing and a little more hands-on play time, even GameDaily was able to realize the “epic fail” error of their ways. I’m not sure threatening to kick people in their “Sackboy” will get them back in the good graces of MM, but it may be a good way to work off all that crow they must be eating right about now.

The latest update on the Playstation.blog announced the first DLC coming to the Playstation Network for LittleBigPlanet, which includes the free (from 11/6 to 11/9) Halloween Mask & the Launch Space Suit. Unfortunately, they’re limited time only downloadables, so get them while you can. They also announced that in the coming weeks, there will be more DLC for certain prices. The full list of DLC is after the jump.

Seasonal & Limited Time Only Costumes – FREE
The “launch” SpaceSuit and Halloween mask is a perfect example of this. These types of items will be available for a short amount of time only so look for these around special events and holidays.

Community Costumes – FREE
Remember LittleBigChallenge 003? We’re finalizing the winners now, so stay tuned. These will be available for free and over time, you’ll see more and more of these types of free downloads for LBP community.

SackBoy Costumes – $0.99 each
Continue to customize your SackBoy/SackGirl with brand new outfits that will be available in a variety of themes and designs. Here’s a sneak peek of a few costumes in the works…

Premium SackBoy Costumes – $1.99 each
Its no secret, that we love the rest of the PlayStation family and we want the SackPeople to be able to dress up as their favorite characters. Stay tuned for more announcements with new costumes from our PlayStation family and even some outside the family… Here’s a few of the ones we’ve already announced…

RARE SackBoy Costumes – $?.??
In time, we’re hoping to introduce very rare items that are both only available for a certain amount of time and extremely collectible. We’ve previously announced the such an item, the “RARE Mm T-shirt”, but in North America, we’re waiting for the right time to introduce into the PS Store. Stay tuned…

Basic SackBoy Costume Bundle – $2.99
At times, we’ll offer four basic costumes at a great price…to make things easier for the ‘must collect everything I see’ personalities

Premium SackBoy Costume Bundle – $5.99
Similar to the Basic SackBoy Costume Bundle, this premium version consists of four premium costumes for the price of three. All characters in premium bundles will revolve around a certain theme…more info to come in the near future.

Kotaku reports that the LittleBigPlanet servers are back up, after a turbulent startup: The servers were switched on three days ago, only to be turned off again due to glitches. The man with the hair reports:

Soon after booting up my Playstation 3 and starting up the game I was asked to download a 20 meg or so patch that brought my copy of LittleBigPlanet up to version 1.03. After the update I was able to connect and even publish a crap level I created. I also managed to play through some other amazing levels with friends. The only issue I had was some slow down in create mode when I tried to undo multiple accidents.

Any Riptenites having luck with this? Try connecting to the LBP servers, and let us know what your results in the comments!

If you tried to play with your Sackboy last night, you likely powered down your PS3 with a LittleBigFrown. Yes, Media Molecule was forced to shut down operations due to some unfortunate reports of glitching experienced by players.

The following statement was issued as an update on the MM site:

Great gremlins and ghosts! The servers are down while we try to fix the glitching issues some players have experienced. They will be back online as soon as we have fixed the problem. Keep your browsers pointed at this post for updates.

So there you have it. Stay tuned as we plan to update you as soon as we hear something.

Source: mediamolecule.com

I recently interviewed Metacrtic founder, Marc Doyle, about what many were calling a suspiciously low LittleBigPlanet user score of 6.3 on his site. Those unfamiliar with Metacritic need only to know that it aggregates the scores given by critics on various websites around the web into one “metascore” and also allows users to submit their own scores which are aggregated into a separate user score.

The total amount of users who had submitted a score for LBP at the time of my article was upwards of 2,200 and the result apparently motivated a group PlayStation 3 fanboys to retaliate. The current user score for the upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive, Gears of War 2, is a laughable 4.1 comprised of roughly 375 submissions.

Marc’s comment regarding the LBP controversy is applicable once again:

“Over the years, people have, by and large, not exploited the fact that you can vote early. Only recently have people started voting en masse for (and against) games like they’ve done with LBP.”

It seems that fanboys on both sides will continue to disregard the negative effect they have on individuals who actually depend on the user scores given by those they deem to be their peers. Marc spoke breify about the future of Metacritic, stating that they plan to include a more thorough registration process in hopes of reducing the fanboy effect. In the mean time, I think we could all benefit from a little more self restraint.

Many of us believed that the recent delay of Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet was meant to allow for a recall, reprinting, and redistribution of the game after what some deemed to be offensive lyrics were brought to the attention of Sony.

While this may still be the case, it is also possible that the move to recall the game was nothing more than Sony’s way to ensure the impending LBP patch would be approved and accessible on PSN before the exclusive PlayStation 3 title hit stores.

Assuming you are one of the foolish fortunate individuals who bid their bi-weekly paycheck on Ebay for a copy of Sackboy’s debut IP, you can log into PSN and download the 57MB patch right now. Everyone else will benefit from the automatic update on November 5th.

Source: Neogaff (via CVG)

[UPDATE] – After speaking with our own Patrick Steen, who is playing the US release of the game, we have confirmation that the patch currently only applies to the EU version and that a US patch has yet to be released.

[UPDATE 10/26/08] – The US patch is now available for download.

After reading about the suspiciously low Metacritic user score of 6.3 for Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet, I decided to dig into the story a little deeper. For those unfamiliar with the situation, allow me to fill you in.

Metacritic, who by and large is considered the main source for aggregated scoring on the web, offers two score flavors (one for critics and one for users). This is the case across most sites. The problem is, when you are considered the “go to” resource for pretty much anything, there’s a chance that people will make a big deal out of something on your site that they would normally overlook on another.

That said, this specific instance pertains to the scores currently presented on Metacritic for the LittleBigPlanet game. The first, a 9.5 at the time of this article, represents the aggregated score based on several well accepted gaming review sites such as GamePro, IGN, and EuroGamer. The second, more controversial score, is a 6.3, and is compiled via the average score given by a pool of 2,225 user votes.

Gaming news site N4G, which pulls related news from various websites around the web, features a blog post titled “Fanboys pull LittleBigPlanet’s Metacritic score down”, discussing this very topic. Reading some of the furious responses to the score piqued my interest, so I visited the Metacritic site to see first hand what all the fuss was about. Clicking on the “Read user comments” link near the overall user score brings you to the bottom of the page, where the following statement by Marc Doyle, the sites founder, awaits:

“My advice for our faithful users is to focus your attention on the Metascore for this game and not the thousands of user votes, most of which have been submitted before said users have played the game. This is a gaming community, and if people want to stuff the ballot box, there’s not much I can do at this point. When we upgrade the registration requirements for participation on the site in the near future, this type of thing won’t happen. We’ll post the full legitimate user reviews upon the game’s release. As always, thanks for using the site.”

This prompted me to contact Marc directly in order to get a more complete picture of the situation from his end. Specifically, I felt that gamers would want some clarity regarding the portion of his comment stating that most of the user reviews submitted for LBP were made “before said users [had] played the game.”

Firstly, I wanted to know if he would consider eliminating user reviews submitted before the full release of the game, i.e. reviews clearly submitted based on the open beta alone, or even worse, no experience with the game at all, to which he responded:

” … we won’t be clearing those old scores from LBP when it launches, but we will only post reviews from people who have clearly played the game. All the reviews from fanboys and haters who haven’t played it will just be left out. That is true for all products on Metacritic. Humans actually read all of those user reviews (so we can delete profanity, spoilers, etc.), and those humans are told not to post reviews from people who clearly haven’t played the game.”

He then added that the burden of proof they demand from users submitting reviews prior to a game’s release date is be much higher than those doing so after the fact.

Slightly confused, I asked Marc for some clarification as to how the game could have such a low score, if his team was manually looking over each user review submitted. He stated:

“All the [numeric] scores “count” in the overall user average and total votes tally, but we only post a subset of those as [written] user reviews.”

When talking about the future of the site, as well as other things they are doing to help eliminate this type of fanboy nonsense in the future, Marc had the following to say:

“There will be a Metacritic re-design in the future (can’t say exactly when), and as a part of that process, we’re going to beef up our user registration and community functions so that “stuffing the ballot box” won’t be nearly as easy.

The original idea behind allowing users to write user reviews (and vote on them) was to allow those people (like me) who see advanced screenings of movies and sometimes play games ahead of their true release date to write reviews and have them posted on Metcritic. That’s still the case now.

Over the years, people have, by and large, not exploited the fact that you can vote early. Only recently have people started voting en masse for (and against) games like they’ve done with LBP.

Metacritic’s primary “product” is the Metascore, which is the weighted average of scores from professional critics. We include user reviews for obvious reasons, but because that score can never be 100% reliable, it’s given secondary importance on the site. For example, you can’t sort or search by user scores for any products. That will likely change with the redesign.”

Marc obviously has a solid understanding of the space, its evolution, and the challenges that lie ahead. The fact of matter though, is that currently, anyone can visit Metacritic and leave an abnormally low user score, skewing the average, without necessarily saying anything of value at all. I asked him if this was something the site would be revisiting in the immediate future.

” … nothing should change in this regard until we do the redesign. That tally will remain a raw tally, and only the printed user reviews will be “vetted” as useful reviews from people that we think actually played the game … “

He closed the topic by adding that the specifics of “whatever [they] do with the voting system moving forward [have] yet to be established.”

With October 27th just around the corner, LittleBigPlanet is four LittleBigDays away from being officially released. So while the current 6.3 Metacritic user score has been getting most of the attention on the net, I (like Marc himself), kindly ask that you shift your focus to the 95 out of a 100 Metacritic score the game is receiving from the mainstream media. Everything else will sort itself out in due time.

Mix Islam and entertainment to find the media lapping it up. Religious controversy sells, and even the BBC picks up on the trend.

We recently reported that LittleBigPlanet had been delayed due to its soundtrack featuring Qur’an references. It’s been a hotly discussed topic, some showing disgust, others sympathy. In the following BBC news clip Media Molecule’s Alex Evans explains how the matter was brought to their attention.

LitleBigPlanet will be available from the 27th October in the US, the 30th October in Japan, and the 3rd November in Europe. You can read my personal thoughts on the controversy in the comments section of our original report, with an extract here:

…Neither art nor entertainment should be censored for faith reasons, that is unless something is said which incites hatred. Not all Muslims find the combination of music and the Qur’an offensive, indeed there’s a whole genre of music doing just that.

The fact that the artist is Muslim is enough to illustrate that one forum poster saying they are offended by the use of words in a song which in no way attacks another human being, is not enough to justify the censoring of art or entertainment. If it offends you, don’t play the game. Or note that it offends you, and simply ignore it.

Since the national media, both the BBC and CNN, has picked up on the story, Chad Lakkis’ view that Sony was making a purely business decision could gain more significance.  Perhaps Sony’s decision to recall the game was a publicity stunt to get LittleBigPlanet in the national media.  It’s certainly a better tactic than buying a brief mention from British television presenter Jonathan Ross with knitted dolls that hardly resemble the lovable Sackboy:

Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet is proving that little is not only the new big (as the mini billboard shown above cleverly states), it’s also the new entrepreneurial cash cow.

While early copies of the game have been selling on Ebay for upwards of $150, the demand for everything Sackboy doesn’t end there. Miniature LittleBigPlanet billboards (which I must admit look pretty cool) are surfacing on Ebay with starting bids of around $35.

This is not good people. I’m afraid that the rush of attention may eventually overwhelm a young Sackboy, causing him to become emotionally withdrawn in his later years. Do you really want to see a reality TV show thirty years from now staring an overweight and drug addicted Sackman, sitting on a couch, sharing child star stories with Gary Coleman and Corey Haim? I didn’t think so.

Check out a few more of the LBP billboards after the jump.

As you all know, LittleBigPlanet was recalled, after already being shipped to the majority of retailers, due to Qur’an references in one of the game’s music tracks. However, those who’ve been able to purchase the game from non-chain shops, commonly referred to as “mom and pop shops”, are taking advantage of the delay.

If you want to play LBP early, it’ll cost you a good $150 or more, because that’s what the game is currently going for on eBay. Thank capitalists for this latest Sackboy scandal. *sigh* It was only a matter of time.

Source: Destructoid [Thanks Matt!]

LittleBigResistance: Delay of Sackboy

The recent controversy surrounding Sony’s decision to delay the release of LittleBigPlanet, over a Qur’an reference made in one of the tracks, has many gamers flexing their memory muscle in an attempt to illustrate a double standard.

The belief is that Sony’s 2006 decision to essentially ignore the Church of England’s request asking for the removal of the Manchester Cathedral from their Resistance: Fall of man game, paired with the company’s recent willingness to comply to the perceived wishes of a Muslim community, demonstrates favoritism.

Several prime examples appear as comments appended to Kotaku’s recent post regarding the recall. Here are excerpts from a few of my favorites:

“Where’s the balls you had when it came to standing up to the Church of England, Sony?? Fuck you and your double standard, you bastards.” - Lachoy

“Sony, clearly, not willing to lift a finger to defend Western values or preserve our sensibilities, but willing to bend over backward to appease Islamic twits. They take our market for granted.” - rateoforange

To all those bringing up the Church of Manchester incident as a valid analogy: where the fuck have you been for the past 15 years? Stop thinking in absolute terms: “Christians are OK with it, so Muslims should be too.” Yes, there is a double standard here, and no, it’s not the end of the world. - Antiterra

This got me thinking about the two scenarios from a pure business standpoint. Armed with only an opinion, my belief is that Sony isn’t demonstrating favoritism, rather they are making what they believe to be sound business decisions based on a bottom line mentality.

While opinions are nice, I realized that any level of convincing was going to require more than a hunch. I needed proof that the cost of a potential Cathedral replacement would drastically exceed those associated with the recent LittleBigPlanet delay.

Our own Dan Landis, who followed the 2006 Cathedral incident closer than I, was quick to point out one glaring difference: the Church’s complaint was brought to the attention of Sony after the game had already been released for several months. However, for the sake of illustrating my point, we’ll assume both concerns were voiced prior to each game’s release.

The first thing I wanted to figure out was how much it would cost for a team of developers, in terms of salary, to make a new level to replace the Cathedral, had Sony decided to pull it from the game. In order to do that, I needed a rough development time frame. The best answer I found appeared in a June 2006 GameSpot interview with Insomniac CEO, Ted Price.

GameSpot: How long has the game been in development?

Ted Price: We’ve been in production on Resistance: Fall of Man for several months now and were in preproduction for a long time before that. How’s that for a vague answer?

Alright Ted, I’ll go with it. Let’s assume “several months” adds up to six, and “a long time before that” represents about two years. Combine those numbers with the six months time separating the interview and the game’s release and you get three years.

Next, I needed to get some gaming related salary information. I came across a website which outlined ballpark salaries for the most common gaming industry positions utilizing data submitted via a Game Makers Salary Survey. Insomniac’s official site lists the company at one hundred and eighty plus employees strong, so I took a reasonable chunk of that head count and created decent sized team with the basic structure and pay scale outlined in the survey.

The estimate I reached for one month of development time, from a pure salary perspective, totaled $250,000. Taking that number and multiplying it by three years time adds up to $9 million in total cost. Whether this number is accurate or not, it is in line with the quote given by Epic VP, Mark Rein, in a 2007 Wired Game|Life interview regarding the estimated cost to produce Gears of War.

“We spent less than $10 million to make Gears of War. Somewhere between nine and ten million dollars.”

Granted, this may be a low estimate, but it will serve its purpose. Compiling everything I gathered, the hypothetical Resistance replacement level would cost $500,000 with a two month cap on development time.

Assuming the Cathedral itself took about the same time to create, that would be a total loss of $1 million to appease the Church of England. Therefore, had the request been made one week prior to the game’s release, it’s my belief, based on the business reality outlined above, that the change would not have been made.

LittleBigPlanet’s delay consists of an audio track modification, recalled product, and a reprint of the game. Using a baseline of one million copies, at a printing rate of 10 cents per unit (estimated and discounted based on a rate offered to consumers for a similar service), brings the total cost for reprinting to $100,000. Adding a generous amount for product recall and audio rework yields a result less than one-fifth the amount predicted for Resistance.

So while the LittleBigPlanet delay is complex in its own right, I hope the information provided here helps at least a few gamers consider business logic, not favoritism, as a deciding factor.

Afterthought: Do you think that Sony is at fault for playing favorites here, or do you think the entire thing is getting blow out of proportion? Does the game’s delay effect your decision to buy/not buy the game? Share your thoughts below.